How do workplace safety, disability, and family-leave laws protect employees?

"Employers must be aware of changes to laws concerning employee safety, health, and privacy. The Occupational Safety and Health Act requires employers to provide a workplace free of health and safety hazards. For instance, manufacturers must require their employees working on loading docks to wear steel-toed shoes so their feet will not be injured if materials are dropped. Drug and AIDS testing are also governed by federal laws.\n\nThe Americans with Disabilities Act continues to affect the workplace. To be considered disabled, a person must have a physical or mental impairment that greatly limits one or more major life activities. More than 40 million Americans, or 12.6 percent of the population, were disabled in 2015, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. Employers may not discriminate against disabled persons. They must make reasonable accommodations so that qualified employees can perform the job, unless doing so would cause undue hardship for the business. Altering work schedules, modifying equipment so that a wheelchair-bound person can use it, and making buildings accessible by ramps and elevators are considered reasonable. Two companies often praised for their efforts to hire the disabled are McDonald’s and DuPont.\n\nThe Family and Medical Leave Act went into effect in 1993. The law guarantees continuation of paid health benefits, plus a return to the same or equivalent job, and applies to employers with 50 or more employees. It requires these employers to provide unpaid leave of up to 12 weeks during any 12-month period to workers who have been employed for at least a year and worked at least 1,250 hours during the past year. The reasons for the leave include the birth or adoption of a child; the serious illness of a child, spouse, or parent; or a serious illness that prevents the worker from doing the job. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, only 11 percent of all private industry workers have access to paid family leave. Low-wage earners fare even worse. Only 5 percent of low-wage earners get any paid maternity leave, and nearly half will not take time off because they cannot afford to go without income. The United States continues to be one of only four countries in the world, along with Liberia, Suriname, and Papua New Guinea, that do not guarantee paid parental leave."